Familiar Faces, New Work

This week has finally offered a chance to catch my breath after a whirlwind few weeks, from the busy World Pilot Gig Championships weekend to helping my husband organise a local running race (more on that below). It has been lovely — and certainly more relaxing! — to be back in the shop, welcoming familiar faces to the gallery again as the season begins to gather momentum.

We are delighted to be showing new work by Steve Sherris, who previously exhibited in his own gallery just around the corner from us on Silver Street before making the move to Cumbria last year.

We also have new pieces by Tracey Elphick, whose family live on St Agnes. Tracey’s daughter, Amelie Elphick, also works on St Agnes during the summer, and we are eagerly awaiting a new delivery of her beautiful embroidered pictures very soon.

Alongside this, we have recently begun representing Christine Evans. Her work proved incredibly popular and sold out almost immediately, but we are hopeful she will create more Scilly-inspired paintings for us over the coming months.

Claire Henley's new originals have also been selling well - this is one of the few we have left!

Luckily for us, last week, our much-loved artist, Daniel Cole, also sent over several new pieces to hang, which you can view on the website - here is one of St Martin's below:

If you happen to be on Scilly at the moment, we are hosting a couple of free events as part of Creative Scilly. Later today (Monday 18th May), I’ll be helping to facilitate an informal art club drop-in session at Salakee Farm. Bring along your favourite art materials and settle into the barn for a relaxed afternoon of drawing, painting, chatting — or simply enjoying the atmosphere. Alongside your sketchbook, I’d definitely recommend bringing a little cash for Kylie’s delicious flapjack and the self-service tea and coffee.

Then on Tuesday 19th May, we’ll be serving tea and cake at the gallery (there does seem to be a theme emerging!). Do pop in between 5pm and 6pm for a hot drink and some of Becky Lock’s famous tray bakes, with gluten-free and vegan options available. You’ll be welcome to browse the current exhibition while chatting with Oriel and I as we look ahead to celebrating ten years of running the gallery this September.

As I mentioned above, the beginning of May was especially busy. Over the winter, I spent a great deal of time training for our local rowing championships and this year took part in the Women’s Veterans race for the first time. Our crew finished fourth out of 48 crews, and while we didn't make the podium, we were lucky with the weather and we all felt we had given it everything we could.

From my perspective, the best part was finishing by Saturday morning before the main races began, which meant I could spend the rest of the weekend back in the shop enjoying the fantastic atmosphere as rowers and spectators drifted in and out throughout the day!

The race I helped with last weekend was the “Scillonian Sprint”, which raised money for the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust— who manage much of the land across Scilly — and the Adam Mallon Foundation, which supports local children to access sporting opportunities, including competing at mainland events. You can find out more about the race and upcoming events here, including Wez's next major challenge in the calendar: Scilly60.

Wishing you all the best for a sunny spring and summer ahead and hoping to see you in the gallery sometime soon, Erica x